


Safe Haven

by QueenOfCarrotFlowers



Series: In tempore [1]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, But Ben is very well behaved, F/M, Inspired by The Time Travelers Wife, Rey is thirsty, Time Travel, Time traveling Ben Solo, Underage Rey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-10-08 07:39:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17382455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenOfCarrotFlowers/pseuds/QueenOfCarrotFlowers
Summary: Rey is trapped by a storm, and her favorite time traveling friend drops by to keep her company.





	Safe Haven

**Author's Note:**

> This story is set in the same universe as [Two Week Jump](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17326415). Inspired by The Time Traveler's Wife, in this AU Kylo Ren / Ben Solo travels unpredictably through time. After his redemption, and once he's in a relationship with Rey, he begins traveling back in time to visit her. The practical effect is that Rey has known post-redemption Ben her entire life, since she was a little girl, but Ben has only known her since after the events of TLJ.
> 
> However, Ben doesn't tell her much, so Rey really knows very little about him. She knows that his name is Ben, that he knows her in his own timeline, and that he's hot and (ever since she hit puberty) she wants to bang him. Mostly they have a very close friendship.
> 
> This story takes place towards the end of 32 ABY, so Rey is about seventeen. Ben is in his later 40s.

The storm started before sunup this morning. It's now well past sundown and the wind shows no sign of letting up. Rey is relatively confident she'll be able to ride this one out in the AT-AT, even if it goes on for another day or even two. She has her extra stores of water and food, which she keeps - just in case - after years of experience, especially after that one particular storm, the one that might have killed her if it hadn't been for Ben.

Ben. She hasn't seen him in weeks and it's really starting to hurt. She thinks about him a lot, wonders where he is right now, what he might be doing, as yet unaware of her existence. And she wonders also when she'll finally meet him, and how. She knows she'll meet him eventually, Ben had let it slip a few years ago that he knows her in his own timeline, when she’ll be older, so it's just a matter of time. He refuses to answer her questions about their relationship but she's pretty sure they're in love. Maybe they even get married. Why would he keep coming to visit her now if they aren't married later? The older she gets, the closer to their inevitable meeting, the harder it is for her. It's all a matter of time now, the waiting. Always waiting. Rey waits for her family, and she waits for Ben.

Just as she's booting up another flight simulation, there's a soft _whumph_ and a groan from the far end of the room; from under the hammock, it turns out, and her heart flips. A familiar head pokes out and Rey takes a moment to size him up. He's older this time, in his later 40s at least. A strong smattering of grey is visible at his temples and his hair is shorter than usual. The wrinkles around the corners of his eyes and his mouth become more pronounced as he grins over at her. He looks happy, or at least he's in a good mood, which is always nice. Her heartbeat speeds up, just a bit. She can't help it.

"Hey, you," Ben says, "when is it?"

That's his usual greeting. Because he jumps back from various points in his timeline, he never knows when he's going to arrive in hers. He knows about some visits, because Rey will tell him about them after they meet. Like the visit during the storm six years ago, the one where she almost died; he'd known about that. But mostly he comes in blind.

"It's 32 ABY, late in the year. You've arrived in the middle of a storm, lucky you. I'm just starting up a flight simulation, if you'd like to join me." She pats the seat next to hers, which was once the copilot’s seat in an old Y-Wing she appropriated years ago, and which now sits empty, unless Ben is there.

As she's speaking Ben reaches into a box she keeps tucked in the corner behind him and pulls out a pair of men’s trousers and a shirt she’d scavenged from a wreck years ago and which she leaves there just for him. She eyes him as unobtrusively as she can. His body definitely softens as he gets older, but he's still muscular and so very tall. She sighs to herself as he finally pulls the shirt down over his back and turns around to face her.

He's frowning. "A storm, huh. How long has it been going? Do you have enough food and water?" He's always worried about her food and water, even though he knows that she survives this, survives her childhood. She finds his concern sweet but unnecessary; of course she has enough. She's very resourceful.

"Just a day, and I have enough food and water for at least two more days. But I don't think this one will last that long, it's still early in the season." The crease between his eyes relaxes as he crosses the room and settles himself in the seat next to her. She notices he's careful not to touch her, to leave space between them, and a streak of annoyance passes through her. She tries to ignore it and gestures to trade seats with him so he can sit in front of the controller.

Ben shakes his head. "I'll just watch you, if that's okay. The last time I was here you were about ten and had just set this thing up. I want to see if you've improved."

Rey laughs. "I remember that visit! I was so excited and you were typically supportive. But you've been here since, silly. You were here three weeks ago and I showed you my latest simulation; it's for an Upsilon-class command shuttle. You were a lot younger, though, it must have been a while back for you." 

Ben has relaxed back into his seat and closed his eyes. "I don't remember that visit, sorry."

"I tried to kiss you."

He doesn't move but a flush arises across his cheeks and turns the tips of his ears bright red. Rey can't help the chuckle that rises from her throat as she starts the simulation.

"Yeah, okay, I remember that visit after all." His voice is nonchalant but the corners of his mouth tip down. Her laughter dies and is replaced by a cold heaviness in her stomach. 

Rey brings her attention fully to the simulation, and she eases the virtual ship out of the virtual hangar and up through the virtual atmosphere. She can see in the corner of her eye that Ben's eyes are open again, and he's watching her intently as she flies. She always offers to let him fly and he never does; he claims that he doesn't know how, but she thinks he's lying. If he didn't know how to fly, what harm would it to do try? She figures he's really a pilot, maybe even a really good one, and he just doesn't want her to know.

Ben’s stomach growls audibly and Rey curses herself for not offering him a snack; the time jumps usually leave him hungry and thirsty. 

She opens her mouth to finally make an offer, but he anticipates her. “Ignore that, I don’t need to eat. Maybe if I’m here for a while, but I don’t think this is going to be a long visit.” _You need it more than I do_ is the unspoken subtext to his comment. She has no idea what his circumstances are, at any point in his life, but he always seems to be well-fed and in good health, and she is often not, so she’s not inclined to argue with him.

They spend the next several minutes in companionable silence, with Rey running through the simulation and Ben watching with obvious interest. She has the program set to random, and it turns out to be a trip through an asteroid belt, while both in pursuit of and being pursued by ships wearing the insignia of the Rebel Alliance - it’s an old simulation, one she’d done many times before, but it still works and she enjoys it. She’s never finished it successfully, always crashes or gets shot down before the simulation runs its course, and this time is no different. 

Except this time, she makes an obvious error, pulls down when she should pull up, throwing her virtual ship into the path of a passing asteroid, which crashes into her dramatically, ending the simulation. Ben exclaims, “You should have pulled _up_!” and throws himself back into his seat dramatically.

“ _Ah ha!_ You _do_ know about flying!” Rey shouts smugly.

Ben shakes his head and chuckles. “Don’t need to know anything about flying to know that was an obvious mistake. And a purposeful one, too.” He’s not scolding her, exactly, but her face heats up anyway.

She punches the button to shut down the simulator and throws herself back in her seat beside Ben. “Okay. I’m tired of this. Let’s do something else. What would you like to do?”

He doesn’t answer, and she glances over to find him with his eyes closed again, long fingers of his right hand pressed against his forehead.

“Ben? Are you feeling alright?” He opens his eyes and turns his head to look at her, then shifts his whole body to the side so he’s facing her. She does the same. They stare at each other for what feels like a long time before he responds.

“Rey, I know this is hard for you. I _know_. If you want to talk about it, we can talk now.”

Rey is briefly rendered speechless. This is very different from their usual rapport, which involves Rey trying to trick Ben into spilling information and Ben studiously avoiding her questioning completely. And of course, given the chance to talk, she has no idea what to say, what questions to ask.

“Why? Why now?”

He reaches out and takes one of her hands in his. It’s been a while since he touched her; ever since she developed breasts and started her monthly cycle and really started noticing him as a _man_ instead of just as her _weird time-traveling friend_ he’s been more stand-offish, and she knows she hasn’t made it easy; her awkward attempt at kissing him during his last visit being just one example. His hand is warm and surprisingly soft, and it is so large it completely engulfs hers. It reminds her how very large he is all over, and the thought brings warmth to her cheeks, pressure between her legs, but she manages to maintain eye contact with him, she doesn’t look away.

“Because you’ll remember this visit, and you’ll tell me about it later. The storm, and the simulation. I just realized it.” He pauses, and she notices that his thumb has started to massage the side of her thumb. It feels unbelievably good. “I don’t usually tell you things, because I can’t. I didn’t, so I don’t. You know?”

Rey nods. She knows at least this about the situation; there’s exactly one timeline, and they are both on it. Everything happens as it happens, and there’s no way to change it. Ben hadn’t talked to Rey about the future, so he doesn’t. 

Ben seems to sense that she’s not going to talk, so he starts. 

“What do you know, Rey? Tell me what you know, or what you think you know.”

“Will you tell me if I’m right?”

He smiles and huffs a breath out his nose in an almost-laugh. “Maybe I will, maybe not.”

She bites her lip. She’s confident that she can read him pretty well, and she thinks if she’s looking him in the face she should be able to gauge his reactions to her ideas, even if he decides not to answer her. 

“You don’t have to. You know I can read your mind, right?” She means it in fun, as a bit of a flirt, but his face falls briefly and there’s something there she doesn’t understand, something she can’t interpret at all. But it only lasts for a moment, and then he’s back, and smiling, and maybe she imagined it anyway.

“Well, I know that young you is out there, somewhere, and when the time is right we’re going to meet.” Ben nods, and she continues. “And you’ve told me we’re friends, but I think we’re in love, maybe we’re even married. Because why else would you keep coming to now, unless we’re so close then?”

Ben doesn’t reply, he just looks at her, and his eyes trace her face as he does; from her eyes down to her lips, to her hairline, back to her eyes. His thumb is still stroking along the curve of her thumb. It’s intimate and new, and it makes her tummy flutter.

Finally he speaks again. “So, I’ll be visiting you one more time, early next year.”

Rey opens her mouth to respond but he keeps talking. “One more time, and then we’ll meet in person.”

The news hits her like a punch in the gut, and immediately she’s sobbing. He doesn’t even pause before he pulls he into his lap, holding her close and stroking her hair until she regains control of herself. She takes her time to enjoy the moment. His shoulder is warm under her cheek, even through the scratchy fabric of the shirt, and from this close she can almost count the dark moles that scatter across his neck and chin. The scar down the right side of his face, so much a part of him she hardly notices it, disappears under his collar and she follows it in her mind, how it runs over his collarbone and ends just at the top of his right pectoral. So many scars. 

“Why do you have so many scars?” It’s not the right question, considering what he’s just told her, but he takes it in stride.

“You’ll find out.”

He’s rocking her, now, back and forth, and it’s so very comfortable. 

“When will we meet?”

That’s a better question, and one he seems ready for. “I can’t tell you exactly, but not for a while yet. I’m afraid there will be a long period of time between my next visit and our meeting.”

Rey hates this idea, hates it to much, and Ben knows it. He squeezes her. 

“How long?” She demands. “Months? Years? I mean,” there are tears in her eyes again, and she curses them, “I’ve never seen you looking much younger than your early 30s. If you’re my age, that’s fifteen standard years. I couldn’t take that, I’d go nuts. I can’t live without you, Ben.”

He rests his lips on her forehead, almost a kiss. “Not that long. Couple years? I can’t tell you exactly. But it will happen, I promise.”

Rey wipes her eyes and smiles, placated, not happy but content in finally, _finally_ , having some kind of timeline to her eventual life with Ben. If it’s anything like this - lying his his arms, warm and comforted, while a storm rages outside - it’s a life worth waiting for.

“Can you tell me how we meet?”

He stills, even his breath stops for a moment, and she can feel him shake his head. 

“I can’t. You’ll be surprised. And, Rey you must remember - look at me please,” she tips her head up and his face is _right there_ , his eyes, golden brown and beautiful, intent on her, “you must remember that I will not know you. Me, now, I don’t know you exist. And I’m sorry, because that will be hard. I can’t even tell you how difficult it will be, for both of us.”

“I can’t imagine you not knowing me.”

“Yeah, me neither, but there you go.” Ben sighs, and his breath is warm across Rey’s face. It smells pleasant, and sweet. “Don’t be gentle with me. Be angry, when you have to. Will you promise? Because you’ll know, and I won’t, and there will be times when I’ll need you to convince me. Okay?”

Rey has no idea what he’s talking about, but she will remember what he says and she nods. He seems satisfied, and gives her another squeeze.

But now Rey has another question, and she’s shocked it’s never occurred to her before.

“Ben, you visit yourself, when you jump, don’t you? Like you visit me.”

He frowns, but nods his head. “Sometimes I do. Why?”

“Well, why didn’t you tell yourself about me? When you visit younger you, why not just tell yourself? Then you’d know, when you meet me. I mean,” she pushes against his chest, “you could have told yourself _where I am_. You could have… come here! To visit me. So I wouldn’t have been alone all this time. Why didn’t you?”

He’s shaking his head before she’s finished speaking. “You’d never leave Jakku. If I’d come for you at any time, it wouldn’t have worked. Because you have to wait, right?”

Rey nods and relaxes back into his arms. “Wait for my family.”

Ben holds her closer. “That’s right. Everything happens as it’s supposed to happen, Rey. It’s not perfect, but it is what it is. To answer your question - I never talk to my younger self about what’s to come. There are so many things I could have told my younger self that would have saved so much trouble, and pain, but I didn’t.”

“Because they had to happen?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know, but they did happen. I really don’t understand this at all, but I know that time is unchangeable, and things only happen once. Have you ever met another person who time travels like this?”

Rey giggles. “No. You’re unique, Ben. It’s just you, I guess.” 

Ben hums but doesn’t answer, and they lapse back into quiet.

Rey breaks the silence again a few minutes later. “So you’ll be back one more time. Why bother telling me now? Is it just to get me ready for the last visit?”

Ben’s silence continues, and she’s afraid perhaps he’s fallen asleep, but when she looks up into his face he’s staring at her again, with that intense look on his face, and his cheeks and ears are more flushed, perhaps, than she’s ever seen them.

“Ben, are you okay?”

“Ah, yes fine. So.” He clears his throat. “So the next time I visit, I am going to make love to you.”

“ _WHAT?!!_ ” Rey shouts, and she’s so excited she jumps right out of Ben’s lap, hops up on her toes. She’s completely shocked. He’s never even kissed her, never even shown interest in kissing her, and now he’s saying he’s going to _make love to her_ the next time he visits? “ _WHAT?!!_ Are you serious??”

He’s looking more relaxed, and he’s laughing, thoroughly amused at her reaction. “Yes, I’m serious. And I’m telling you now because you need to get an implant. Right?”

“Yes, I can get one at the outpost, there’s a women at the clinic there who’s been trying to get me one for ages, but I was waiting…” She lets the sentence trail off. They both know what she’s been waiting for, so he just smiles again.

“It’s also... something for you to look forward to.”

She nods. “And then, I suppose, something for me to look forward to after. When I have to wait to meet you again.”

“Yes. That’s the idea, anyway.”

Now that she has the information, Rey is so curious. Now she has questions. “Have you already done it? I mean, have you jumped back and, uh… to the next visit?”

He grins at her, a cute one that brings out his dimples. “I have, _and_ ,” he interrupts her immediate attempt to interrupt him, “I’m not going to tell you anything about it. Except, hmmm.” 

He looks her down and then up again slowly, wearing an expression she has never, ever seen on his face before, a hungry, dark kind of look that curls her toes and warms her tummy, and lower. 

“I can tell you that it will be a particularly, shall we say, lengthy visit; you’ll have a lot of time to explore. So if you have the chance between now and then, you might think a bit about what kind of investigations you’d like to make. As long as you have me at your disposal.”

Rey’s mouth is so dry she’s afraid she can’t speak, and for once the dryness has nothing to do with Jakku’s terrible climate. Unfortunately she doesn’t have time to gather her thoughts before Ben inhales sharply and reaches out to her.

“I’m about to go, I’m sorry. Let me kiss you, please.”

She jumps to him and before her brain has caught up with her body she is kissing Ben for the first time, or he’s kissing her. In any case their lips are pressed together, his hands are on her cheeks and hers are on his neck and they are sharing breath; it’s exactly as wonderful as she’d imagined it would be. And just as she opens her mouth to welcome the tip of his tongue, he disappears into the future, leaving her with his clothes in a pile on the seat, still warm and smelling of him, a serious dampness between her legs, and homework for the next few weeks that she plans to take very seriously indeed

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Reylo Writers Prompt:
> 
> "You know I can read your mind, right?" (Setting: Trapped during a desert storm)
> 
> I'm leofgyth on Tumblr and leoba on Pillowfort, come talk to me about time travel!
> 
> Thanks for the nomination!


End file.
